5.26.2009

Strawberry Fields (Forever).

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Happy Monday, friends. I've been tucked away in my studio most of the weekend. Working on this new handmade book has me crossing my eyes for hours at a time! It's my first attempt at meshing my photography & Photoshop techniques with my bookbinding & hand sewing techniques. While it's going pretty swell, I've forgotten how much designing and redesigning it takes to make all the pieces fit together. Alas, my eyes have crossed.

I did manage to take a road trip down the coast on Sunday. We packed up the truck and headed towards the most amazing organic strawberry farm. Swanton BerryFarm is just north of Santa Cruz, right on Route 1 overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It's organic, it's gigantic, and it has the "u-pick" option too. This time we only piled up eleven pounds of strawberries versus last year's fourteen and fifteen pounds the year before that. So many strawberries!

Needless to say, we have surrendered our kitchen to the delightful mess of making homemade jam. The end result? Four batches: Strawberry-rhubarb, strawberry-raspberry, strawberry-strawberry, and also plum. The plum was an extra bonus. We've been reading about urban homesteading and urban foraging and we just couldn't resist the landlord's forgotten plum tree in the far corner of the yard.

And now: A fine little line of canned red jam dots the top of the bookshelf in the kitchen; they behave quite nicely standing up straight as they start to cool; waiting patiently to receive their little jam labels later in the week, once my eyes have stopped crisscrossing.

jen: it's so rewarding to make your own jam, and such a fun gift to give too. no, you don't need too many tools: clean ball jars & lids, jar funnel, jar grabber, and then pectin, sugar, and fruit! here's a link: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/2006-06-01/Make-Delicious-Low-sugar-Jams-and-Jellies.aspx

nonie: thank you! and thanks for visiting too. strawberry-picking with little ones sounds like an amazing adventure. and adorable.

mansuetude: yes, the strawberries were mouth-watering for sure. thanks for the kind words about the grant... i'm so excited! happy summer.